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WikiLeaks Reveals How the US Aggressively Pursued Regime Change in Syria, Igniting a BloodbathFriday, October 09, 2015By Robert Naiman, Verso Books | Book Excerpt

In 2010, WikiLeaks became a household name by releasing 251,287 classified State Department cables. Now, a new book collects in-depth analyses of what these cables tell us about the foreign policy of the United States, from authors including Truthout staff reporter Dahr Jamail and our regular contributors Gareth Porter, Robert Naiman, Phyllis Bennis and Stephen Zunes. "The essays that make up The WikiLeaks Files shed critical light on a once secret history," says Edward Snowden.

The following is Chapter 10 of The WikiLeaks Files:

On August 31, 2013, US president Barack Obama announced that he intended to launch a military attack on Syria in response to a chemical weapons attack in that country that the US blamed on the Syrian government. Obama assured the US public that this would be a limited action solely intended to punish the Assad government for using chemical weapons; the goal of US military action would not be to overthrow the Assad government, nor to change the balance of forces in Syria's sectarian civil war.

History shows that public understanding of US foreign policy depends crucially on assessing the motivations of US officials. It is likely inevitable as a result that US officials will present themselves to the public as having more noble motivations than they share with each other in private, and therefore that if members of the public had access to the motivations shared in private, they might make different assessments of US policy. This is a key reason why WikiLeaks' publishing of US diplomatic cables was so important.

The cables gave the public a recent window into the strategies and motivations of US officials as they expressed them to each other, not as they usually expressed them to the public. In the case of Syria, the cables show that regime change had been a long-standing goal of US policy; that the US promoted sectarianism in support of its regime-change policy, thus helping lay the foundation for the sectarian civil war and massive bloodshed that we see in Syria today; that key components of the Bush administration's regime-change policy remained in place even as the Obama administration moved publicly toward a policy of engagement; and that the US government was much more interested in the Syrian government's foreign policy, particularly its relationship with Iran, than in human rights inside Syria.

A December 13, 2006 cable, "Influencing the SARG [Syrian government] in the End of 2006,"1 indicates that, as far back as 2006 - five years before "Arab Spring" protests in Syria - destabilizing the Syrian government was a central motivation of US policy. The author of the cable was William Roebuck, at the time chargé d'affaires at the US embassy in Damascus. The cable outlines strategies for destabilizing the Syrian government. In his summary of the cable, Roebuck wrote:

We believe Bashar's weaknesses are in how he chooses to react to looming issues, both perceived and real, such as the conflict between economic reform steps (however limited) and entrenched, corrupt forces, the Kurdish question, and the potential threat to the regime from the increasing presence of transiting Islamist extremists. This cable summarizes our assessment of these vulnerabilities and suggests that there may be actions, statements, and signals that the USG can send that will improve the likelihood of such opportunities arising.This cable suggests that the US goal in December 2006 was to undermine the Syrian government by any available means, and that what mattered was whether US action would help destabilize the government, not what other impacts the action might have. In public the US was in favor of economic reform, but in private the US saw conflict between economic reform and "entrenched, corrupt forces" as an "opportunity." In public, the US was opposed to "Islamist extremists" everywhere; but in private it saw the "potential threat to the regime from the increasing presence of transiting Islamist extremists" as an "opportunity" that the US should take action to try to increase.

Roebuck lists Syria's relationship with Iran as a "vulnerability" that the US should try to "exploit." His suggested means of doing so are instructive:

Possible action:PLAY ON SUNNI FEARS OF IRANIAN INFLUENCE: There are fears in Syria that the Iranians are active in both Shia proselytizing and conversion of, mostly poor, Sunnis. Though often exaggerated, such fears reflect an element of the Sunni community in Syria that is increasingly upset by and focused on the spread of Iranian influence in their country through activities ranging from mosque construction to business.Both the local Egyptian and Saudi missions here (as well as prominent Syrian Sunni religious leaders) are giving increasing attention to the matter and we should coordinate more closely with their governments on ways to better publicize and focus regional attention on the issue. [Emphasis added.]Roebuck thus argued that the US should try to destabilize the Syrian government by coordinating more closely with Egypt and Saudi Arabia to fan sectarian tensions between Sunni and Shia, including by the promotion of "exaggerated" fears of Shia proselytizing of Sunnis, and of concern about "the spread of Iranian influence" in Syria in the form of mosque construction and business activity.

By 2014, the sectarian Sunni-Shia character of the civil war in Syria was bemoaned in the United States as an unfortunate development. But in December 2006, the man heading the US embassy in Syria advocated in a cable to the secretary of state and the White House that the US government collaborate with Saudi Arabia and Egypt to promote sectarian conflict in Syria between Sunni and Shia as a means of destabilizing the Syrian government. At that time, no one in the US government could credibly have claimed innocence of the possible implications of such a policy. This cable was written at the height of the sectarian Sunni-Shia civil war in Iraq, which the US military was unsuccessfully trying to contain. US public disgust with the sectarian civil war in Iraq unleashed by the US invasion had just cost Republicans control of Congress in the November 2006 election. The election result immediately precipitated the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld as secretary of defense. No one working for the US government on foreign policy at the time could have been unaware of the implications of promoting Sunni-Shia sectarianism.

That the US engages in attempts to subvert enemies is a given. That it has attempted to `mainstream` sunni jihadis against Assad is also true. That it is smart enough to attempt to engineer a region wide Shia-Sunni war is suspect. Although such a war would be in the interest of the civilized world. But for petroleum prices perhaps.

Israel has every right to defend itself against any threat. GCC and Egypt have already reconciled themselves to Israel. It is Iran and Syria which continue to aid Hezbollah against Israel, driving the response. GCC controls US or Jews controls US or Rothschilds control US is just childish rant. Iran and Syria must focus on the Sunni threat. Not on Israel. As the recent events have already shown. Israel is not behind mass beheadings/murders of Shias in Iraq or Syria. It is the Sunni jihadis.

The sunni jihadis have usa france and uk via...huge basing rights...huge arms deals...payoffs to western elites incl think tanks...stakes in western cos...black money parked in west

By your twisted logic russia should be funding terrorism and nibbling at bahrain djibouti seychelles singapore and south korea as they all host major nato bases. Even jordan and turkey. But russia is not even supporting the beaten down shias of bahrain or yemen.

Regime change on behalf of personal or sunni kabila or israel is a usa hobby.

By your twisted logic russia should be funding terrorism and nibbling at bahrain djibouti seychelles singapore and south korea as they all host major nato bases. Even jordan and turkey. But russia is not even supporting the beaten down shias of bahrain or yemen.

Regime change on behalf of personal or sunni kabila or israel is a usa hobby.

Bhaiya, where was I suggesting that US is doing the right thing( morally or otherwise). I only stated that US is doing it and tried to explain why it is doing it. I also believe that the presidential system in USA gives too much power to one office which leads to foreign policy disasters. Russia has too powerful a presidential office too. And these states take foreign policy decisions without proper debate and on egos of persons. Shortsighted foreign policy moves cause long term damages. The motivation in Syria is to undermine a Soviet/Russian/Iranian ally and not incite a wider Shia-Sunni war. That is all. Please do not go by `if you are not with me, you are against me` logic and jump on me.

Not quite.After saddam was brought down, the sunni states have wanted to do an == . They are afraid of a shia link up between KSA & Turkey.Turkey will then face a two front situation with russia to the north and the shia Syria and Iraq in the southSimilarly KSA, would have Syria-Iraq in the north and Yemen in the south to contend with.

So a group of sunni terrorists comes up in the middle to take out both iraq and syria, who are killing shias, christians, yezidis and moderate sunnis. KSA is cleaning all the trash within and letting them blow off some steam in the levant and spend their energies. For these armed gangs will turn on the al-sauds next.

The US is stuck with the sunni allies, and they are now driving things.The == from the USs' pov was to get rid of a shia leader to do an == for getting rid of sunni saddam.

Now what should one make of this: Every single presidential candidate stated that they will take out ISIS. But look at whats actually happening on the ground!!! It is diametrically opposite!!!

US is incapable of defeating ISIS or Taliban or any other guerilla warfare opposition. So is every other modern army in human rights era. To say US/Israel is aiding ISIS is stretching it too far. In fact, imho the house of Saud also does not support ISIS type radical entities which cannot be controlled. It is more of a Qatari-Turkish project apart from stockpile of weapons and support of sunnis in Syria and Iraq. SA kingdom knows that radical islamic entities could turn towards the royalty any day. So they only support pliable jihadis who are/will be utterly dependent on it. Just check for the states that supported Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and it will give one an idea of who supports Sunni Islamic jihadi entities in west Asia. US would probably be a notch lower than SA in supporting jihadis although it has repeatedly supported them taking cue from SA and Erdogan. And that has left much egg on american faces as well.

I think Afghanistan & Syria is not only about Saudi Sunni hegemony but also about keeping cheaper Central Asian & Middle East Gas resources out of international market as much as possible. To Keep the oil prices high. In Natural Course Oil should cost less than USD 20 per barrel if Gaspipelines can be laid across international borders easily.

Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) told TASS.

On Wednesday, the meeting of the OPCW Executive Council took place. During that meeting Russia and Iran submitted a revised draft proposal for the investigation of the incident in the Syrian province of Idlib. However, the United States opposed the visit of the Syrian Chemical Weapons Detection Mission to the Shayrat airfield, since it "has nothing to do with the situation," the diplomat said.

The US delegation "spoke out against the involvement of any national experts in the work of the mission, they accused Russia of trying to "mix tracks and lead the investigation to a dead end."

"But the connection between the incident in Idlib and the airfield of Shayrat was established by the Americans themselves, who stated that the Syrian planes had flown from this airfield," the Permanent Representative stressed. "Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to determine if sarin or other chemical munitions were stored there or not," he stressed.

"Our view is that the Western countries are acting extremely inconsistently," the Russian diplomat said.

"We guess that Americans probably have something to hide, since they persistently want to take the Shayrat airport out of the investigation. Maybe they knew from the start there was no chemical weapons there, and all this was used only as an excuse?" he added.

^^ Initially Pentagon and WH said Syrian Airforce took off from Shayrat Airbase and bombed Idlib with CW , The even showed the flight profile Syrian AF took and bombed Shayrat AB because it had chemical Weapons there.

Now US does not want to talk about Shayrat AB but just idlib CW attack.

Seems US now knows Shayrat AB does not have any CW and without ability to prove that base had CW storage capability their entire basis of CW Attack dropped by Syrian AB taking off from Shayrat will fall flat.

Turkey's Erdogan: Barack Obama deceived us over PKKTurkish leader tells Al Jazeera he hopes for stronger ties between Turkey and US under Donald Trump's administration.

IMHO, Trump`s business interests in Turkey will make him more amenable to Erdogan and Turkey. He also seems to have less brains compared to Obama, who stayed away despite more pressure on another chemical weapons drama on another day.Erdogan`s win in the referendum now makes him a dictator. And like all dictators, he would be heavily interested in foreign policy matters. Syria and Iraq will continue to see massive and increasing Turkish intervention. Next decade or more will be interesting/violent times for the region.

there is chatter of a Tigris shield operation using the ES benched staff + new turkoman militias he has been training in Bashiqa with the permission of barzani. these two do not want iraqi govt to rule over northern iraq at all.already the KRG has been acting pretty tough on the yazidis in Sinjar. plan may be depopulate the areas like that and resettle people from north and east. the nineveh plains around mosul is the ancient homeland of the assyrian christians and they too have been roughed up by the barzanis.

the only hope for the minorities in that region seems oddly enough the pmu which has a certain number of turkoman, sunni and christian units.

OPCW Director General Ahmet Uzumcu said earlier that sarin gas or a sarin-like substance had been used in the chemical weapons attack in Khan Shaykhun. He added that "the analytical results already obtained are incontrovertible."

According to Konashenkov, "in the past two weeks, not a single OPCW representative was seen there." "Where do these samples come from? Who of the OPCW members was able to study them so fast while standard procedures stipulate a complex research which requires time, as we can see in the case of mustard gas use in Aleppo," Konashenkov said.

White Helmets unharmed

The Russian Defense Ministry wants the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to explain how members of the White Helmets (an organization positioning itself as a human rights campaigner - TASS) managed to stay unharmed by sarin in Khan Shaykhun, Defense Ministry spokesman said.

"If it is true that sarin was used in Khan Shaykhun, how can the OPCW then account for the fact the charlatans from the White Helmets organization were hustling and bustling inside sarin clouds with no protective gear on? Everybody could see that. Ahmed Uzumcu should provide comprehensible answers to these questions as soon as possible," Konashenkov said.

"Although independent experts do not believe that anyone could have remained unharmed in a sarin gas attack, nevertheless, maybe Mr. Uzumcu has created his own periodic table of elements instead of Mendeleev’s one?" Konashenkov added.More:http://tass.com/world/942326

Syrian air defenses in the sky in the north of the province of Latakia found a strange aircraft. The target was fired upon, destroy it.

Competent US authorities were forced to confirm that around 17:40 GMT (19 hours and 40 minutes of Damascus time) lost contact with the remote-controlled aircraft the MQ-1 «Predator», flying in north-west Syria.

"According to the Turkish media,« Predator »was flying with the US Air Force base in Incirlik in Turkey, which was based 4 of US drones in recent years.

"The MQ-1, apparently was hit by" Pechora-2M ", as close to the crash site of the wreckage of an American spy was discovered by anti-aircraft rocket boosters of this complex. Everything indicated that the Syrians lacked a rocket ", - said Yuri Ljamin.

Armed Syrian armed forces are made up of 12 of the modernized complex "Pechora-2M". At present, they "learned" time to shoot down a variety of objects, including cruise missiles and aircraft "Stealth" Modified missiles were able to "catch up" targets flying at a speed of 1000 m / s at a height of 20 m to 25 km, at a distance 28 km.

The complex used modern digital technology, which greatly improved the ability to detect the attacking aircraft. Moreover, flush job option entered thermal channel, which allows, without revealing themselves, pinpoint enemy.

Minsk chassis MZKT-8021 significantly increased the mobility characteristics: SAM is moving at speeds up to 60 km / h, very quickly change position and go from retaliation.

The only problem is that these systems are not too many, and they can not take control of all the country's airspace.

Although independent experts do not believe that anyone could have remained unharmed in a sarin gas attack, nevertheless, maybe Mr. Uzumcu has created his own periodic table of elements instead of Mendeleev’s one?" Konashenkov added.

And that would have gone right through the ears of the Hon. US Amb. to the UN Mohtherma Haley Bibi. Duh! Hu Data Mendeleev commie pinko eenyhyaw?

The price for the Syrian gambit is rising for Pres. Putin,but still affordable. Trump's wild strike and the threat of serious strikes to come against the Syrian regime in the future,with tadpole UK willing to shot off Trump's shoulder,will increase the threat of creative response from Russia. Russia can take a page out of Trump's war manual and obliterate the so-called "rebels" and western mercenaries in massive retaliation. With US forces spread thin around the globe,from Af-Pak to the Korean peninsula,Putin can increase the temp in Europe by hurting the UKR even further and squeezing the b*lls of the Baltics even further. The Trump regime is poorly served with wise men who can handle several conflicts at the same time."Mad Dog" M knows only how to bark and bite at whatever takes his fancy.

Washington (CNN)Russian military aircraft were spotted flying off the coast of Alaska for the fourth time in as many days, a spokesperson for the North American Aerospace Defense Command told CNN on Friday.

The two most recent sightings occurred late Wednesday and on Thursday, with the first involving two IL-38 maritime patrol aircraft and the second involving two Tu-95 nuclear-capable Bear bombers.Russian aircraft never entered US airspace but US F-22s and Canadian CF-18s jets were dispatched to perform an intercept during Thursday's encounter, according to NORAD.

The president explained that “the only way, the only route for the terrorists to get money, armaments, every logistic support, recruits, and this kind of material, is through Turkey,” before adding “it’s a hundred percent Turkey.”

Bhurishravas wrote:Syria is/was an ally of USSR/Russia. Hosts soviet/Russian base. That is sufficient.Please dont talk as if you were born yesterday.

So your USA must be having India on hit list next.

Oh, dhoti shiverer, worry not, India is not Syria.Am sure "my" USA must have been indulging in subverting India for a long time. After all, they did arm and fund Pakis. And continue to do so.In contrast, "your" USSR/Russia has only been good to us. It has only armed China.